“Brigadoon” is not your typical hamlet in the Highlands. Nor is Broadway Under the Stars your typical theater company. And that’s a good thing for East Contra Costa playgoers because the two perfectly combine for a truly memorable whimsical “journey” to Scotland replete with wonderful music, comedy and romance.

The 1947 Lerner and Loewe musical, which opened last weekend at Brentwood’s sublime Heritage High School theater, was quite an undertaking for the budding troupe, now in its third season, already having performed at three different venues. But, with the gifted director Steve Kinsella and producer/actor Jack Gaughan at the helm, backed by a dedicated creative team and dynamite cast, this “Brigadoon” dazzles.

The escapist fantasy is set in Scotland in where two game-hunting Americans stumble upon a mysterious town, Brigadoon. Once every 100 years, the town, which is not on the map, awakens from it mysterious slumber. Even though the hunters look and act strange to the 1700s-era villagers, they welcome them with open arms and go about their business preparing for the upcoming wedding of two of the young townspeople.

Fast-talking New Yorker Jeff Douglas doesn’t believe in anything he can’t understand or can’t see, smell or feel, while the restless young Tommy Albright doesn’t trust his own feelings. But a few hours with this group of well-meaning villagers, and the two men’s attitudes begin to change, especially Tommy’s as he begins falling for one of the bonny lasses.

Bill Flanery reprises a role he played many years earlier — in high school — as Tommy, and he does so with aplomb. The likable actor commands the stage with his rich, robust voice in classic songs such as “The Heather On the Hill” and “Almost Like Being in Love.”

Flanery meets his match with the lyric soprano Meghan Michelle McGovern as love interest Fiona MacLaren. The bubbly blonde dynamo is delightful to watch and enchanting to listen to. The beautiful harmony of these time-crossed lovers alone is worth the price of admission.

Singing aside, we’re also treated to the talented ensemble’s spirited jigs and captivating ballet sequences choreographed by Jillian Butler, along with colorful tartans, evocative lighting and a wonderful live orchestra (Rose Marie Forment is music director; Nate Schofield, conductor) to add to the delight.

Don’t be concerned about too much sentimentality and sweetness, though, The playwright throws in just the right amount of comic relief to spice things up, and sidekick hunter Jeff (Wayne Steffan) is right there to dish it up with some fine sarcasm and humor. He’s especially funny in one of the subplots when he gets dragged away by the worldly villager Meg Brockie (Danielle Childs) and later emerges in some old-fashioned breeches. Childs is hysterical as she overzealously pursues Jeff and sings about the men she’s fallen for in “The Love Of My Life.”

In another subplot, Nate Schofield as Charlie Dalrymple and Taylor Cocoles as Jean Maclaren shine as they sing and dance their way into happiness as the groom-to-be and his fiancee. The talented Schofield, wearing a feather hat and knickers, is particularly enchanting in “Come To Me, Bend To Me,” which he sweetly sings to his bonny lass the eve of their nuptials, while Cocoles shows her dancing talents on several songs.

On a darker note, there’s the sniveling, sulking Harry Beaton (Josh Gates) who’s desperate to get Jean back — so desperate that he finds little hope for the future without her. Gates, along with Jeremy LaClair and Nick Kamalakis, also shows considerable skill as a sword dancer at his former girlfriend’s wedding. But it’s not long before he throws a wrench in things, threatening to leave the enchanted town, breaking the spell and dooming the inhabitants in his wake.

The embittered Scotsman almost changes everyone’s world forever when he runs into the forest and is accidentally killed. Wedding happiness turns to mourning and Cherly Ortiz as Maggie Anderson performs an emotional traditional funeral ritual.

In the end, Tommy leaves for New York only to return four months later to the 1700s miracle village for his “passport to disappear” forever in to the mist to be with his lovely lass Fiona.

Just as the power of love is strong enough to make Tommy believe again and to awaken a slumbering village so he can reunite with his sweetheart, so is the talent of the Broadway Under the Stars cast and crew to make playgoers believe in the power of great theater.

See this epic classic before it dances through the heather and into the mist of Broadway Under the Stars’ history.

Judith Prieve is an East Bay assistant metro editor and oversees the Brentwood/Antioch/Oakley/Pittsburg News weeklies. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she has worked as a reporter, features editor and assistant metro editor at newspapers in Wisconsin and Northern California and has been at what is now the Bay Area News Group for more than 25 years.

The agency’s hiring surge is only for half of the funds generated under SB 1; the other half is going to cities and counties for transportation improvements projects, which are also expected to generate new jobs.